LAKE ALFRED, Fla. (WFLA) — Deputies say a Polk County man returned home this week to find his house being burglarized and was then hit by a car driven by a suspect.
James Wright and his wife returned to their home on Creek Road in Lake Alfred just before noon on Monday and said they found a dark SUV backed into their yard that they did not recognize.
Wright, who was driving, said he pulled into the yard to get a closer look and got out of his car. That’s when he saw two men running from the screened-in pool area that is attached to his house.
As the men were running through the yard, Wright said a woman behind the wheel of the SUV drove at him and then swerved to hit him. The man said he was forced backward and the SUV drove away down Creek Road.
“Kind of bounced off and rolled to the right and she kind of peeled off and went down the road,” Wright told News Channel 8.
Wright said this wasn’t the first time someone had tried to get in his home.
“They’ve been here before? Yeah, this is the fourth time we’ve had someone try to get in our house in the last six months,” he said. “So, we’re pretty confident if it’s not the exact same ones, the part of the gang that’s affiliated and they tell each other what’s going on.”
“We do have a house, most of these are mobile homes out here, so they hit our house thinking, I guess, we got the most stuff to get.”
Polk County Sheriff’s Office K9 and aviation units responded to the scene. The aviation unit found a man on Highway 557 North who was waving his arms. He then told responding deputies he found an unknown man in his garage.
The suspect, identified as Tacordon Riggins, was arrested for unarmed burglary of an unoccupied residence and attempted felony murder.
Deputies are still trying to identify the other suspects.
“The sheriff’s saying they are hitting this whole area because it’s, the whole I-4 corridor… if they do get seen at the quick getaway, to get away and get into traffic on I-4,” Wright said.
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